Everyone Needs to Own the Innovation Agenda : Debunking the Myth of the Sole Genius

In today’s world, innovation can no longer be the purview of the Chief Innovation Officer or a lone genius. The most influential product, business and culture change comes from dedication to bottom-up and cross-organizational innovation. In essence, innovation must become part of everyone’s job description.

In 10 Lessons for Enterprise Innovation Centers, we examine how enterprises can create the kind of innovation center needed today. To get there, enterprises need to drop the belief in the sole genius, as everyone needs to own the innovation agenda. From scientists in research labs to account executives in business units, everyone throughout the organization must actively engage in innovation activities, and these activities must be supported by the business structure.

Three key factors for a successful enterprise innovation center include:

Do not invent behind closed doors. Engage partners and other operating companies early in the prototyping and experimentation process.

Embrace cross-organizational collaboration to shift cultural strategy to a more egalitarian “line” view of innovation inside the enterprise.

Make innovation a horizontal and vertical imperative. For example, executives need to be charged – and evaluated – with actively creating and supporting risk-tolerant and risk-embracing environments.

The time is now for enterprise companies to move from incremental adjustments to transformational innovation. For more information on what enterprise companies need to know as they start their innovation journey, visit here.